It is a win-win situation for Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. When he plays the star forwards on the same line, with Tomas Holmstrom, they often dominate opponents who can't shut down both at the same time. When he plays them on different lines, like he has more often lately, foes can't concentrate their checking line against both talented players.

"That's huge for us, they can carry one line each," Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "What's their team going to do when you split them up? All of a sudden you got two lines going instead of one super line and three good lines. It makes it a lot tougher on the other teams. One guy doesn't have the puck, the other one's got it."

Babcock is more apt to split the pair on the road, where he doesn't have the last line change. But he also has done it at home. Sometimes they will start the game on the same line and switch after a few shifts, like in Tuesday's 4-1 victory in Montreal. Opponents are having difficulty adjusting.

"It gives the team a little different look," Zetterberg said. "It's fun to play with Sammy (Mikael Samuelsson) and the Mule (Johan Franzen) once in a while."

Zetterberg was red-hot the first few weeks of the season, fashioning a franchise-record 17-game points streak. Now, Datsyuk is sizzling; he will take a five-game goal-scoring streak into Friday's game against Minnesota at Joe Louis Arena and has eight goals and five assists in his past eight games.

"When I'm out there I encourage him to pass to me," Zetterberg joked. "But he has a great shot and he should shoot more. He always shoots at the right time, when the goalie doesn't see it."

Datsyuk's willingness to shoot more creates a dilemma for opposing defensemen who don't know if he is going to embarrass them with a highlight-reel move, set up a teammate with a slick pass or just fire the puck with his much-improved wrist shot.

"He's good at deking and going around the defenseman, too, so it's tough for the defenseman to come out one-on-one with Pavel," Zetterberg said.

Babcock will continue splitting the pair or teaming them up at various times in games, depending on the situation. And there is no reason to believe they won't continue to flourish either way.

"They get to scoring areas whenever they want to, at will," Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood said. "Their shots are great, they're capable of creating offense a lot of other guys aren't. We hope not to rely on them every night because that would be unfair to them. But they are our horses, no doubt."

RED WINGS NOTES
Osgood All-Star worthy: Because he is not a starting goalie, Osgood wasn't on the All-Star ballot. But he is making a strong case to be a Western Conference reserve thanks to his 13-1-1 record and 1.79 goals-against average.

"It would mean more now to go than when I was younger," Osgood said. "It's not something I think about it, but if it happened, it would be cool."

Osgood played in the 1996 and '97 All-Star Games during his first stint with the Red Wings.

"For a goalie, you're more or less a target for all the breakaways and three-on-0s (during skills competitions), and then you get to the game and it's 25-30 shots in one period," Osgood said. "It's just survival for the most part. Best thing is getting the (All-Star) jersey."

Nicklas Lidstrom leads the Western Conference in All-Star votes with 246,144, while Zetterberg (175, 270) is second and Datsyuk (134,661) is fourth in the fan balloting to determine the starting lineups. The All-Star Game is Jan. 27 in Atlanta. Voting takes place on NHL.com through Jan. 2.

Hasek starts again: Babcock said Dominik Hasek will make his second consecutive start Friday, after snapping a personal three-game losing streak in Montreal.

"We knew he was going to be good," Babcock said. "Right now we're fortunate we got Dom going and Ozzie going, and we'll be able to roll."

Injury update: Kirk Maltby (sore back) didn't practice Wednesday, but Babcock said he is hoping to be on the ice today and possibly play Friday. Dan Cleary's left ankle had to be iced and taped after he was hit by a shot from Samuelsson in practice. Cleary said he is fine and will be ready for Friday.